Still Around
by BrodieAnne
Summary: I wrote this story to fit with 3Oh!3's song still around. I obviously interpreted it a little bit differently than most people would have. This is about how Beth brings Puck and Rachel together.


Beth. That was going to be his daughters name, after everything Quinn had done she could at least give him that, couldn't she? He'd agreed to give her up, which he really didn't want to do, because he knows, he just knows that he can do this Dad thing without fucking it up. No, he'd made up his mind, if he was giving her up, it wouldn't be without a name, and her name was going to be Beth. With that in mind Puck marches into Glee, and tells not just Quinn, who is wearing a ridiculous pink outfit with feathers and shit, but the entire club, because Quinn won't deny him this in front of everyone. It'll make her look like too much of a bitch.

* * *

Thank God for meddling Jews. Mostly thank God for the meddling Jew that is Rachel Berry. Puck was already drunk, sitting outside of the 7-eleven, not even trying to look depressed; it was just coming naturally today, when she walked past. She walked for another step or two before turning sharply on her heel.

"Noah?" He looks up from the ground, and notices first, the clothes, because he'd never seen her in snug jeans and a v-neck before.

"Berry." He grunts out, not even bothering with a proper greeting.

"Noah, are you drunk?" Her voice doesn't hold the disappointment that he was expecting.

"What's it to you."

"You aren't driving anywhere are you?" again; more concern and no disappointment.

"I can drive fine Berry mind your own fucking business." Puck practically snarls at the shorter girl.

"Noah Elijah Puckerman, give me your keys." When he doesn't move, she raises her voice and shouts out a shrill "Now!" Willing to do just about anything to avoid that tone again Puck hands over the keys to his truck. "C'mon. You're coming to my house, you're bound to get arrested out here, and the beer fridge is fully stocked." Puck glances at the girl in confusion and doesn't follow as she leads the way to her Dads car. When she notices that he's not following, she turns around and grabs his hand before gently pulling him to the BMW. "Let's go Noah, I'm sure you can use another beer."

* * *

She was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking. She was all pink, and blue-eyed, which he'd read might not last, she had a full head of dark hair, and a set of lungs that even Rachel Berry would envy. But she wasn't his, well she was, but only for three days, then her new, better family would be taking her away. And all he wanted to do was hold her, and memorize every tiny detail; he wanted her to remember that her father loved her, even if she didn't know him. Quinn had only held her once, and had refused to since then, she'd calmly explained to the nurse that they weren't keeping her; it infuriated him that she hadn't even looked sad.

He'd been holding Beth for what felt like hours when he saw her; she was looking through the glass of the nursery and gave a small wave when she'd been spotted. After everything she'd done for him, he waved the small girl in.

"She's beautiful Noah."

"I know." It's not that he was being rude, he just didn't think his daughter's beauty was something that needed to be spoken of, and she clearly radiated it.

"What'd you name her?"

"Beth, Quinn won't tell the doctors that though, so she's listed as Baby Girl FaBray." He speaks to the brunette while still looking at the baby in his arms, reaching up with one hand to offer a pinky for the baby to suckle on. "I overheard the nurses calling her Beth though." Noah sat in the rocking chair he'd previously occupied, barely noticing Rachel's approach until he saw her well manicured hand tickle his baby's stomach lightly.

"Quinn won't even look at her. She's pretending to be in the hospital for something else. Now that she doesn't have Beth in her belly to remind her she's going to pretend none of this ever happened." His eyes look up to Rachel, "I'm never going to forget her, and as much as I may sound like a fag, I'm never going to stop feeling the feelings I have for her. Quinn or Beth. I love Quinn for carrying my child, and taking such good care of her, and I think loving Beth is just something that I'm always going to unconsciously do, like breathing." Noah no longer felt uncomfortable discussing his feelings with Rachel, she was the only person he discussed them with, and the small girl had never judged him, and shockingly usually just listened to him when they were together.

"I know this sounds odd Noah, but I think I might love her too. Beth, obviously not Quinn, but somehow seeing how much a part of you she is I don't think there is any way I could not love her. Not to mention how absolutely adorable and bad ass she is."

"I'd ask if you wanted to hold her, but I don't want to let her go. "

"It's alright Noah, I can understand that." The brunette lets out a deep sigh.

"What's up Berry?" The new father says not taking his eyes off of the little girl.

"I can't take my eyes off of her, she's just so beautiful." The Mohawked boy lets out a light chuckle.

"Rachel, do you want to hold my daughter?"

"Noah, I couldn't!"

"Come on Berry, you're the only person I'm offering it too. Honestly my Mom just grabbed her out of my arms." Rachel couldn't help but laugh lightly at that.

"In that case, I would love to hold your daughter Noah." Noah and Rachel carefully exchange the pink bundle from his arms to hers. Noah watches as Rachel's eyes get all soft, looking down at the baby from this vantage point is so much different than seeing her in Noah's strong arms. Suddenly, even though Rachel does strength training 4 times a week, she doesn't feel strong enough to hold this tiny human, with Noah's nose. "She has your nose Noah."

"I know, poor kid." The new father snickers.

"I think it looks fantastic on her." Rachel says handing the baby back to the edgy father.

* * *

He walks into the room and see's Shelby Cochran holding his baby. He knows that Rachel is wandering around the hospital somewhere. Sticking around just in case he needs her emotional support, he also knows that if she were to see her birth mother coddling a new baby when she wouldn't even give her the time of day would be devastating to Rachel Berry.

Noah is feeling the strangest mix of emotions; he is thrilled that someone local might be adopting Beth. That his daughter would stay close, that he might actually be able to see her. He was also enraged for the sake of Rachel. Shelby couldn't bother to try and be a part of Rachel's life, but she was willing to start over with a new baby, one that wasn't even really _hers. _He wasn't even sure what kind of a mother Shelby would be to Beth since she was such a shit mother to Rachel. He glances behind him before going into the room, in just the nick of time to see Rachel running back around the corner, her hands covering her face which was wearing a look of obvious anguish. He follows without thinking.

"Rachel, wait!" She doesn't stop, but luckily, he has been sprinting for years during football practice. Despite Rachel's own daily exercise routine, he catches up easily. Her tiny legs were really no match for his much longer strides. He grabs her shoulder and turns her straight into his chest, she drops her hands and is crying into his shirt, clinging desperately to his back.

"How could she?" She repeated the words, crying almost hard enough to make the words undistinguishable. He leads her into a private waiting room that was empty, an attempt to give them some privacy. He holds her and sways her gently, humming to try and calm her. He'd seen her cry before shit, he'd even caused it a lot of the time. He'd never seen her cry this hard before, when she'd started to calm down some; he set her in a chair, and got her a bottle of water from the vending machine. He handed it to her without the cap, and took the hand closest to his. She drank half of the bottle quickly. She always needed water when she was sad. "Thank you Noah."

He nodded her off, she still looked so devastated. "Rach, we're going to get through this shit, together, 'kay? I got you babe." She leaned against his chest, the armrest was probably really uncomfortable to lean against, but she hugged him again.

"How is it that you've become my best friend?" She'd whispered it into his shoulder, she probably hadn't even meant for her to hear it.

"You might be the only real friend I have Rachel." He hadn't meant to say his reply out loud, but he could tell she needed to hear it, so he didn't mind his slip up too much.

* * *

He pounded on her door, her Dad, Hiram answers the door looking less than pleased.

"Noah, its 5 o'clock in the morning," Rachel's Dad was standing in a bathrobe, blocking the entrance to the house.

"I know sir, I just, I have to see her." Noah ran his hand through his Mohawk, the look on his face melted Hiram's resolve. This boy and his daughter had become incredibly close. They both needed each other, they were each going through something devastating, and though they were facing different things, it involved the same cast.

"She's not doing well Noah, she's been up most of the night crying." Hiram steps aside, allowing the 16 year old entry into his house.

"Me too sir," he rushed up the stairs, and didn't even knock when he came to the door with the gold star on it. "Rachel?" He asks softly walking into her room. She'd finally fallen asleep, although he noticed that she was lying on top of her comforter, and had tissues crinkled up all around her.

He toes his shoes off and lies on the bed next to her. He brushes some of the tissues off of the bed, and rolls over to effectively spoon the small girl. He was giving his daughter up today, to this girl's mother, only Rachel and Quinn could even fathom the pain that he was feeling, and Quinn was pretending like she was the perfect ice queen.

They woke up a few hours later, and Rachel knew that he would want to go to the hospital, to say goodbye to his daughter, possibly for life. She wanted to go with him, to support him, to help him walk away with some dignity, so she could drive him home when he couldn't see the road because he was crying too hard. She knew she wouldn't be able to do that, she would also be crying, because if she went to the hospital with Noah, she would be forced to see how she wasn't a good enough to be Shelby's daughter, but that Beth was.

Everyone always thought of Rachel Berry as a selfish individual, but really she was incredibly selfless. It was Noah that was selfish. He knew that going to the hospital with him was going to break her heart, but she still went. Because she knew that it was going to break his heart too, and he needed someone there to hold his hand. Hiram ended up driving the two teenagers; he pretended not to notice how tightly they clung to each other on the drive home.

* * *

"Noah, don't do this." He hadn't been to school in a few days, she'd been by every afternoon to check on him, and each day he'd be locked in his bedroom drunk. She had decided it was time for him to stop drinking, and hopefully, tomorrow come back to school. He'd decided it was time for her to leave him the fuck alone, and he'd just told her as much.

"What am I doing Rachel? I'm being who I am, I'm fucking up."

"Noah, you're not fucking up, you're upset, you're trying to deal with an ambiguous loss." He scoffed at her vocabulary, completely furious in her inability to leave him alone.

"No, I'm not. I'm missing my baby. My baby, that I shouldn't have because I'm 16, and the girl I got pregnant was my best friends girlfriend."

"Noah, spend the day with me. Don't sit here, wallowing in self-pity, and destroying you're liver." Eventually, they came to a compromise. They went to her house and they both got shitfaced. Her parents caught them making out, but as awkward as that was, the next day Noah was back at school.

* * *

Grief from both of their losses turned their relationship from a close friendship to a romantic involvement. They spent afternoons at his house, because his mom was at work. They'd make out when they were supposed to be watching Sarah. They'd work on homework when his mother got home. They'd either eat dinner with his mom or her dads. He'd pick her up for school in the mornings. They'd become inseparable in a very short period of time. Everyone thought that they'd end as soon as the grief wore off. But that didn't happen.

She stayed right by his side, and he stayed right by hers. They both had abandonment issues, so they clung to each other in a way that would infuriate anyone else, but that they both found comforting.

* * *

After graduation they went to New York together, with Rachel's help he was able to get a scholarship to NYU. Rachel was going to NYADA, they both had part time jobs, to subsidize the living expenses that weren't covered by the money that their parents gave them. They lived in a big lofty apartment. Kurt had moved in with them by October. Noah didn't mind, he'd been spending a lot of time with him before graduation, he was one of Rachel's closest friends aside from Noah. Santana moved in sometime after Christmas, it was subtle. She'd come for a visit, but brought all of her stuff. Noah knew as soon as she showed up on the door step that she wasn't leaving. Over their Junior and Senior years, Santana had actually become close friends. Santana had gotten over hating Rachel shortly after Noah and Rachel had become inseparable. Santana had actually become viciously protective over the smaller girl, although that hadn't happened until Brittany had gotten close to her.

Everyone ended up being wrong, the two were married after they'd graduated, Rachel became a famous Broadway actress, and sometime during college Shelby and Beth had re-entered their lives for good. Noah got to watch his daughter grow up, and Rachel got to have a relationship with her birth mother that was actually positive. She even got to have a strange relationship between her step-daughter/adopted sister. She had no actual relationship with the younger girl, but the two were family regardless.


End file.
